"He's already written his letter, hasn't he? He wrote a goodbye letter, didn't he?" Rodgers said with a wry smile.

"I was surprised at the letter - when you are a loan player I would expect that he should come back, but obviously Pepe made it very clear when he went to Napoli that he was looking to move.

"He penned a great, big letter saying he was going to work with the best manager that he'd worked with and thanked for his time for Liverpool. So, for me, it probably sounded like he'd made his decision there."